THE TEAM – pan-european disaster

This is about as suspenseful as any line gets in THE TEAM … “I have been driving all night. May I take a bath?”

I wanted to love THE TEAM – I loved BRON and I’m all for new TV formats. But this would-be copy of THE BRIDGE just wastefully uses great names like Lars Mikkelsen for characters I don’t care one iota about, putting them in the most beautiful settings just to have them talk. And phone. And talk some more. Mind you, the characters DO actually tend to talk about the story we’re supposed to learn (about three or four murders – who cares, really). But they’re doing their endless talking surrounded by visuals which 1. do not add to the story told; 2. distract from what is talked about; 3. sometimes make no sense at all and certainly do nothing to advance the story. No, brilliant, brilliant Lars Mikkelsen (even in the nude) cannot save this relentless amassing of small, stupid errors – whether it’s the script, the editing or the directing who messed up I can’t tell. However, even the “making off” is flawed, so I do strongly suspect it was a team effort (oh, the pun!). If the first episode (airing tonight on Swiss TV SRF and on March 8 on ZDF) would have been a pitch to the likes of HBO they’d have rejected it. Alas for a European project which starts off with so many great ideas* – I wish the filmmakers had read Truffaut about Hitchcock.

* to even make a series with a story spanning 8 episodes; to put it online first (thumbs up!); to film all across Europe (hopefully not only for the money to be had from the EU media project); to add to the endless ideas of putting kitchen appliances to a creative use (episode 2)

As suspenseful international crime series go – better buy THE BRIDGE [aartikel]B0079770Y6:left[/aartikel]

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I see, I like, I write ... mostly about cinema and actors, but also about politics or economy. In English, auf Deutsch, på svenska. This ORF trained news journalist (TV, radio), who has also worked in corporate publishing for international brands and written/edited tons of magazines, has become a blogger out of passion.

I am sorry for your histeria, but there is no any disaster with this show. Usual crimi-show. As Crossing lines and The Bridge (without Lars, so it is less interesting), and the Killing, and True Detective (Just without quantum physics). So, could you just keep calm, stop your histeria and re-watch your dull Bridge, please?
Don’t disturb people enjoy the nice show. Yes. With Brilliant Lars.
There is no show on tv, which whould be as brilliant as Lars deserves (all skimp on good screenwriters). So, it is just nice show, like any other one.